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The trust which runs Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham has become embroiled in a political row with another health trust over suggestions that it could take over another hospital.

MPs and some local campaigners are calling for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust to take over the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, where some services are under threat.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which currently runs the hospital, has set out plans to move some A&E treatment, women’s services and children’s services from Redditch to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Only the most serious or complex cases would be affected and the vast majority of cases currently treated in Redditch would remain there, the trust says.

But some campaigners battling to oppose the changes argue that the hospital would be safer if it was managed University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

The town is in Worcestershire but much of modern Redditch was built to house overspill from Birmingham and the town has good transport links with the city.

The Worcestershire health trust has been resisting the moves.

Redditch MP Karen Lumley (Con) asked minsters to ensure that UHB managers we allowed to visit the Alexandra site.

She asked the Health Secretary: “What steps he is taking to allow alternative providers, including University Hospitals, Birmingham, to access information on the Alexandra Hospital site?”

Health Minister Daniel Poulter said this was a matter “for the local national health service”.